Can't Stop the Rain
by sheepeater
Summary: I offered you an umbrella, but she managed to stop your whole downpour. The only question is: Who's left to stop mine?


**Title**: Can't Stop the Rain

**Category**: Bleach

**Word Count**: 1,001

**Characters/Pairings**: Inoue, Ishida, mentions of Ichigo and Rukia; one-sided IchiHime, slight IshiHime, implied IchiRuki

**Spoilers/Timeline**: slight spoilers for anything up to vol. 22; takes place sometime after said vol.

**Summary**: I offered you an umbrella, but she managed to stop your whole downpour. The only question is: _Who's left to stop mine?_

**Notes**: Yay, angst!

This counts as half of my B-day present for my friend Arrow Millenium. In case she doesn't like the first fic. xD

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Bleach_. It is property of Kubo Tite-sensei and _Shonen Jump_. Opening lyrics are from _Can't Stop the Rain_, which belongs to Cascada.

* * *

.

.

.

_I can't stop the rain from falling_

_I'm drowning in these tears I cry_

.

.

It's raining fast and hard. I'm at the park. I don't walk around, I don't sit, I don't run for cover.

I stand outside, umbrella-less, and I let it pour. My hair and clothes are thoroughly soaked, but I don't seem to mind. It doesn't matter. Nothing seems to matter anymore.

Not since I found out the truth.

I tried to convince myself that maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was just thinking too hard again.

_(Tatsuki-chan says I should stop. Maybe my brain will explode if I don't!)_

In this way, I fooled myself. Deep down, I had known all along. But I had to find out for sure. I had to hear it from your lips, and your lips only. Only then would I be convinced. All I wanted was some closure, I told myself. _(More self-delusion.)_

What I really wanted was for you to tell it wasn't true. That none of this was real, and I had been wrong all along. I wanted you to protect me again. To protect me from all the wrong in this world. To protect me from the truth.

_(All I really needed was protection from my own thoughts.)_

I wanted, for once, to not be the one who caused you pain but, rather, the one who made you smile.

But we both know who that job was reserved for. She made your face light up in ways I never could...never would...

_(I saw the way you two looked at each other, but still I persisted... In the end, I was my own downfall...)_

I offered you and umbrella, but she managed to stop your whole downpour. The only question is: _Who's left to stop mine?_

_x_

In one day, my whole world was shattered. _You _were my whole world. And _you _caused it to break.

You were so kind about it, too. You shook your head and offered me a smile.

_(Not that beautiful smile that only _she _could make appear, but a sad, sorry one.)_

It tore me up inside, but I never let on. Not that I needed to. It was plainly obvious to the both of us.

_(Hey, look at that. Another thing we have in common. Maybe there's still a chance. Maybe I can still be the one for you. Maybe... Maybe...)_

_x_

Crying?

_(Who, me?)_

You must be mistaken. It's the rain. It's still raining.

My face is wet, you say?

_(Duh! It's still raining, I said.)_

It is, isn't it? It's just the rain. It's just the rain...

_(A never-ending downpour... No matter if the sun shines, the rain inside will never let up...)_

Am I cold?

_(No, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. I don't need anyone's protection. No one's, except one's. Just one's...)_

_x_

I look up to see a sky-colored umbrella. It's a brilliant blue, and I can see all the puffy, white clouds.

_(On another day, I might have smiled. But not today. Not on _this _day...)_

Then it hits me. Where did this umbrella come from? Umbrellas don't just pop out of nowhere above people's heads, last time I checked. Especially not such lovely umbrellas as this.

It must belong to someone!

_(I almost feel proud of myself for figuring it out._ Almost_...but not quite.)_

I lift my head and my eyes meet a pair of striking, blue ones. They're planted on a face with crinkly eyebrows.

_(What a waste. Eyes like those belong on a happy face. Not a crinkly one. Whoever's it is, they'll get premature wrinkling!)_

Then it occurs to me to seek out the owner of those eyes.

_(They're caring eyes, so they must belong to a caring person.)_

Who do I know that's caring and has such memorable blue eyes? Before I can come up with a name...

"Inoue-san. Inoue-san. Inoue-san," someone cries in a pleading tone, as they shake me.

_(Whoever this 'Inoue-san' _is_, they should answer this person! His voice is so desperate, so sincere... Wait! _I'm _Inoue-san! This person is calling out for _me_!)_

Who do I know that has a pair of lovely blue eyes such a sad, melancholy voice?

_(...I know now. It's...)_

"Ishida-kun," I whisper.

"Inoue-san," he breathes. "Thank goodness you're alright. I was worried so about you. I- I thought I'd lost you." He colors a bit, after realizing what his words impliy.

I don't say anything. I have nothing left _to_ say.

_(What good are mere words when you've already lost so much?)_

Out of nowhere, an unfamiliar warmth engulfs me.

_(It's still raining. Why am I no longer cold? Why? Why...?)_

It's Ishida-kun. He's embracing me. And, I don't know why, but my arms appear to develop a mind of their own _(Maybe I've been injected witha mind control potion, or zombies have sucked the life out of me and are using my lifeless puppet of a body for their own gain, or, or...) _and I'm embracing him back.

I'm still under the umbrella, but somehow my face is wet again.

_(I'm... I'm... I'm crying...!)_

I'm crying on Ishida-kun's shoulder and his shirt is getting soaked. He doesn't ask me to stop.

_(I wouldn't have anyway. I _can't _stop. It's no longer within my control. My body has indeed been taken over by zombies.)_

But I don't mind.

_(I never want to let go.)_

Here... in this warmth... in _his_ arms... I'm okay.

The rain may drop endlessly from the heavens, but as long as someone _(as long as _he_) _is here to hold that sky-colored umbrella above my head, I'm okay...

.

.

.

.

.

_owaranai_

* * *

**A/N**: I've been planning this piece for a while now, and I finally got off my lazy butt and wrote it. Please let me know what you think.

Sora(:


End file.
